


The Compass

by exclamation



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: M/M, Peggy's photo, Pining, Pre-Slash, World War II, the compass
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-28
Updated: 2019-09-28
Packaged: 2020-10-30 01:10:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20806019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exclamation/pseuds/exclamation
Summary: Steve is always looking at the photo of Peggy in his compass, but it doesn't mean what people think it means.





	The Compass

**Author's Note:**

> Work's been tiring lately and I haven't had much energy to write. I wrote this quite thing just so that I was writing something. I will be getting back to finishing my WIPs when I have some creative energy again.

"I've got a present for you," Bucky said. He sat down on the bed in the officer's tent Steve had been given because there was nowhere else to sit. Steve tried not to think about that, tried not to think about Bucky flopping onto his bed like he had a right to be there, like he belonged there. 

"What?" he said. 

"A present." There was a grin on Bucky's face. He looked pleased with himself as he reached into a pocket. The last thing Bucky had given Steve had been half a chocolate bar he'd won of Dum Dum in a bet, but that hadn't been framed as a present. That had just been Bucky sharing a good piece of food he'd acquired, the same way he always had. A present was something different, something special, something he must have put effort into gaining or that he meant specially for Steve. 

He pulled out what looked like a folded piece of newspaper which he held out to Steve. It was a piece of folded newspaper. Steve unfolded it, expecting to see something drop from the paper to explain all this, but nothing did. 

"Did someone sell you invisible diamonds again?" Steve asked. Bucky rolled his eyes. 

"Just look at it." Bucky jabbed a finger towards the bottom of the page, so Bucky looked. 

It was a short article in a British newspaper that talked about one of their recent missions. Steve wasn't sure why Bucky would think to give him this, since he knew how Steve felt about being a figure of propaganda, but this article was better than most because it seemed to be a profile of Agent Carter, talking about the valour of British women in the face of danger. 

"I thought you could do with a picture of your girl," Bucky said, and Steve's confusion turned to something sour. 

Bucky was looking so pleased with himself because he'd given Steve a picture of a woman he thought Steve was interested in. And Steve wasn't going to deny that he liked Peggy and that maybe he would like to go dancing with her and see where things went, but he also couldn't deny the feeling of sorrow that went with such thoughts. The feeling like maybe Peggy was a consolation prize for what he couldn't have. Who he couldn't have. 

Because there was no way that Bucky would want him the way Steve wanted him to want him. There was no way that the thought had even crossed Bucky's mind if he was so pleased about giving Steve this picture, the little black and white image of Peggy's face on the newspaper. But, despite the bitterness, Steve couldn't help feeling a little bit touched. After all, Bucky must have gone to effort to get him this and he wouldn't have done that if he didn't care. Bucky always cared. 

"Thank you, Buck." 

He would keep the photo, because how could he do anything else with a gift from Bucky? He would put it somewhere he could look at and that was a safer thing because no one would bat an eye at him looking at a picture of a beautiful dame. But he would know he was looking at a sign of Bucky's affection. He would look at the picture and remember Bucky giving it to him, remember the smile on his face, remember the way it filled Steve with warmth. He would find some way to keep the picture with him when he went into battle, so that he always had a reminder. 

His compass perhaps. That was fitting, since he had always been drawn to Bucky like a compass needle to North. Bucky was his true North and all he would ever need.


End file.
